SF Tidbits for 7/4/08

Posted on July 4, 2008 by John DeNardo in Tidbits // 1 Comment

Lost scenes from an 80-year-old version of the Sci FI classic film Metropolis were recently unveiled.
Free Fiction:
- @Strange Horizons: “Jimmy’s Roadside Cafe” by Ramsey Shehadeh.
- @ManyBooks.net: “Arena” by Frederic Brown (1944).
- @ManyBooks.net: “The Ninth Life” by E. Charles Vivian (1939).
- @No fear of the Future: “Memory” (Part 17) by Jayme Lynn Blaschke.
- Audio fiction: “The Highest Treason” by Randall Garrett. [via SFFaudio]
Interviews and Profiles:
- John Scalzi turns the Whatever mike over to David Louis Edelman, author of Multireal.
- Futurismic interviews Nancy Kress.
- Physicality of Words interviews Peggy Kolm, proprietor of Biology in Science Fiction.
- Lilith Saintcrow talks briefly about he book on Night Shift.
Jeff Carlson (Plague Year and the upcoming Plague War — read the 1st chapter!) has a newly re-designed website.
Andre Norton’s will left unclear deatils surrounding the ownership rights to her more than 130 books, including the Witch World series.
The Daily P.O.P. revisits The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
Here’s a guy who turned himself into a tattoo zombie.
Geeks of Doom list 10 Ways To Make a Kick-Ass Version of Space: 1999
Meanwhile, Jumbabox lists The worst characters from Star Trek.
Three words that fill me with dread and intrigue: Sleestack Velvet Painting.
Finally…Happy Independence Day! Here’s an Isaac Asimov essay on “The Star Spangled Banner” [via TechRivet]…and a clip from Independence Day:

Matte Lozenge // July 5, 2008 at 10:27 pm //

Hurrah for Metropolis! That’s the best news of the evening.

Having heard talk of the Wilson reels, a couple of cinema aficionados — one of whom had just taken charge of the archive — discovered the canisters containing them earlier this year and brought a DVD of the contents to Germany for analysis.

Sometimes the eyes of new generation are needed to appreciate the value of the past…

Here are some clips and stills from the lost footage.